Serving Lucas, Ottawa, Sandusky and Wood Counties
The Oak Harbor baseball team won a share of last year’s NBC title, and with the return of one of the state’s top-ranked pitchers in Nolan Bickelhaupt and First Team All-NBC outfielder Cooper Schultz, the Rockets are expected to compete once again.
“Our expectations in this program never change,” Oak Harbor’s 11th-year head coach Nick Lance said. “It doesn't matter who's in that jersey. Here at Oak Harbor, we expect our kids to put in hard work every day, and they should know how to win when they get to us. We just have those expectations that you know you're going to show up every day with your lunch pail and your work boots and get it done.”
The Rockets finished 19-5 overall last year and shared the NBC title with Eastwood and Lake, which all finished 11-3 in the league. The team’s postseason run ended with a loss to Coldwater in the Division V district semifinals.
Gone from last year’s team are players like Michael Lalonde, Brayden Butzin, Karson Lash, Caleb Baker, Ethan Branum, and Jaxon Overmyer. Butzin was the NBC offensive player of the year, while Lalonde was named the league’s top pitcher. Lash was also a First Team All-NBC selection.
Butzin was a big run producer with a great on-base percentage. Overmyer handled the nine hole, and Lance said Lalonde was that scrappy, strong-willed player with a lot of baseball knowledge.
“It’s going to affect us offensively,” Lance said of the departures. “Obviously, just like everybody else, we always need guys to step up from year to year. We're still trying to figure out potentially who that guy's going to be.”
Bickelhaupt, who tied Lalonde with a team-high 10 appearances on the mound last year en route to a 2.20 ERA, returns for his junior year after a Second Team All-NBC season.
The rotation will also include junior Ethan Johnson, who Lance said is pretty good from the left side.
“I've got three to four quality arms to kind of fill in,” he said.
This year’s senior class includes Schultz, Alex Rife, Hunter Branum, Fulton Krupp, and Garrett Perkins. Lance said Schultz, who will play at Tiffin University, and Rife, in particular, will be looked to for overall leadership.
“Schultz has some baseball knowledge and experience,” Lance said. “He’s definitely going to be a vital part of our success, batting in our leadoff spot. He's going to move from center field to second base just because we have a need. He's been doing a good job there all winter and early spring to kind of make that transition.
“Alex was our three-hole guy last year, and that's about it between Schultz and Rife. (Bickelhaupt) was kind of spotty. He had a handful of at bats last year but when he did, he made them worthwhile. We were pretty solid last year all around and unfortunately, he wasn't able to kind of crack that top nine on the daily.”
Another player making a transition positionally is Fischer Conn, who is moving from the infield to behind the plate.
“He’s working really, really hard,” Lance said. “He's a junior, first-year true varsity kid. Transitioning to being a catcher is not exactly the easiest thing. Typically, catchers are born and bred, and they've done it all their lives. He's trying to make that transition, and he's doing a great job so far. I’m kind of excited to see what happens.”
Overall, Lance is excited for the season.
“The overall expectation of what we want and demand out of our players is really set in early for some of these kids, especially our freshmen,” Lance said. “The freshmen and sophomores last year who really didn’t get a lot of varsity experience and time with us, they've really come a long way already and have already bought into what we're selling. That’s exciting to see.”
